One cinematographer took on a feature which is now generating Oscar buzz, thus continuing what’s been a fruitful collaborative relationship with writer-director Ava DuVernay
Another DP embraced a return engagement with director George C. Wolfe, also on a movie that’s considered an Academy Award contender.
Our third cinematographer connected for the first time with writer-director Emerald Fennell on a much anticipated film that too is in the awards season conversation.
And our next DP came together with a first-time director, Cord Jefferson, who also wrote a movie which won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, an honor that has a history of foreshadowing the Oscars.
Here are insights from lensers Matthew J. Lloyd, ASC, CSC on Origin (Neon); Tobias Schliessler, ASC on Rustin (Netflix); Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF on Saltburn (Amazon MGM Studios); and Cristina Dunlap on American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios).
Matthew J. Lloyd, ASC, CSC
While Origin is a project to which he became deeply committed, Lloyd was captivated by it well before then–sight unseen. The magnet drawing him in initially was its director, writer and producer Ava DuVernay. Lloyd explained that “getting to know her professionally and becoming dear friends over the years, I had no doubt that whatever she wanted to do is what we were going to do. If you’re blessed with one of these relationships in a lifetime, you’re doing pretty well.”
Lloyd had first worked with DuVernay on the television side–lensing Colin in Black and White, and the pilot as well as episodes of DMZ.
Now on the feature front with Origin, Lloyd served not only as DP but also co-executive producer. Origin chronicles the remarkable life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson (played by Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) as she investigates the genesis of injustice and uncovers a hidden truth that affects us all. DuVernay and Lloyd teamed to create powerful cinematic images from the stories that Wilkerson brought to light in her non-fiction book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” as well as tragic events of her personal life–the death of her husband and shortly thereafter her mother–which framed her writing. The result is a film that’s a portrait of grief and healing–both personally and in the world.
Paul Garnes and DuVernay produced Origin under her ARRAY Filmworks banner, and Thane Watkins served as co-executive producer. Along with Ellis-Taylor and Jon Bernthal, Origin stars Niecy Nash-Betts, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Nick Offerman, Blair Underwood, Connie Nielsen, Emily Yancy, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Finn Wittrock, Victoria Pedretti, Isha Blaaker and Myles Frost.
Lloyd recalled DuVernay first reaching out to him for Origin through “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” She told him about and then sent him the book, which he read immediately–twice. “Maybe 10 months later a script arrived which was absolutely stunning,” said Lloyd. The script reflected DuVernay having developed a rapport with Wilkerson, noted Lloyd, and then harnessing her journey of writing the book, taking a deep dive into the legacy of stories that are the foundation of its thesis.
That thesis traces injustice and persecution to a caste system, a hierarchy placing some groups over others–as it exists now and historically in India, in the U.S. relative to the disadvantaged such as Blacks, and dating back in part to Nazi Germany with the systematic killing of Jews. Wilkerson sees these travesties as being connected–not a function of race or religion but rather a caste system in which people are treated as lower forms of life. Wilkerson pinpointed the Third Reich, for example, as being inspired by Jim Crow laws which disenfranchised and persecuted Blacks in the U.S. Jim Crow helped Nazis in turn to make an argument for and to craft legal discrimination in Germany against Jews.
The caste thesis prompted DuVernay and Lloyd to look at its impact on the film industry. “Caste is everywhere. Hierarchy is innate to the human experience,” observed Lloyd who noted that these deep systematic dynamics are addressed in Wilkerson’s book, leading to the question how does that manifest itself in the movie business. Films in America, related Lloyd, are often made in “incredibly diverse cosmopolitan places–L.A., New York, Atlanta, Chicago,” cities made up of people from all over the world, from all walks of life. Yet monolithic hiring practices yield a predominantly white male workforce. Additionally, roles are often defined in such a way that leads to a totem pole hierarchy.
For Origin, DuVernay and Lloyd sought to eliminate hierarchy on the set. Rather than the usual A and B cameras, they abolished that type of organization that has kept the contributions of certain positions less relevant than others. Particularly for a project like Origin calling for nimble shooting by varied artists spanning the U.S., Germany and India in just 37 days, DuVernay reasoned that a new lensing philosophy needed to be adopted. Images from multiple cameras and their respective teams had to be regarded as equally important across the board. A hierarchy with labels like 1st and 2nd unit or A/B/C/D cameras is not conducive to that. These rankings nurture self-importance for some and a lack of self-worth for others. This can deflate the contributions of some people lower down on the so-called food chain, and can adversely impact the behavior of crew members toward one another. For Origin, the objective was to create images with multiple cameras that all carried the same weight, visually and emotionally. This fostered team work and an equal sense of belonging and purpose for more people.
Nothing felt like a B-camera or a second unit shot. Camera department artisans were contributing on multiple levels–to the extent that Lloyd when watching the final movie said he often couldn’t “recall what shots were on my shoulder.”
DuVernay decided to shoot Origin on 16mm film. When she first mentioned 16mm on the phone to Lloyd, he thought it would be for part of the movie, likely in Germany for which dramatic scenes included a horrifying public book burning in 1933. However, DuVernay affirmed that she wanted to go 16mm for the entire feature. Surprised at first, Lloyd quickly saw the rationale, observing that DuVernay selected the film format that was most suitable for her process and the overall movie, which had a preponderance of long takes and would benefit from a filmic feel.
Lloyd deployed the classic Arriflex 416 16mm camera on Origin. At this point, the camera is at least 15 years old but, said Lloyd, was “built so well with exacting engineering.” For the lion’s share of Origin, Lloyd paired the ARRI cameras with Cooke S4 16mm lenses. Also utilized for choice sequences were Canon 16mm zoom lenses.
What stands out for Lloyd on Origin was the chance to get to watch DuVernay, “someone whom I consider a great American artist, operating at the peak of her game–intellectually, creatively…for the entirety of the process, from start to finish.” He added that with DuVernay, there is “a sense of singular vision being brought to the film.”
Lloyd’s vision is also worthwhile as reflected in an Emmy nomination for his episodic work on Fargo, and an ASC Award nod for the Alpha House series pilot. His other credits include the pilot for Insecure directed by Melina Matsoukas, and movies such as the Jon Watts-directed Cop Car and Spider-Man: Far From Home, and director Jake Schreier’s feature debut, Robot & Frank.
Tobias Schliessler, ASC
Schliessler embraced the chance to work again with director George C. Wolfe. They first collaborated on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a 2020 release which earned five Oscar nominations, winning for its costume design and make-up & hair styling. The reunion of Wolfe and Schliessler came on Rustin, which now is generating buzz as an Academy Award contender, including most notably for Colman Domingo, star in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, whose performance in Rustin as civil rights activist and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Bayard Rustin has garnered rave reviews. Rustin served as organizer of the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther Kind delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” speech.
Last month Rustin, produced by President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground, received an Icon & Creator Tribute for Social Justice at the 33rd annual Gotham Awards ceremony. The Icon & Creator Tribute was created for this year’s Gotham Awards in order to recognize cultural icons and the filmmakers responsible for bringing that icon’s story to life.
Schliessler shared, “Working with a director like George is a dream for any cinematographer, as he has such an extensive knowledge of the material and a very clear vision for how he wants the movie to look. For Rustin, George wanted the audience to feel completely immersed in the film without being distracted by an aesthetic that felt too ‘period’ or overly stylized. We let the color tones of the sets, costumes, makeup, and hair define the era, while keeping our lighting classic and natural.
“One theme that influenced our lighting set ups was that of Rustin’s sexuality and living as a gay man in the 1960s. George wanted to visually convey what it would have felt like to have to hide who you are to society and literally stay in the shadows. This intention influenced how we lit not only what we saw on camera, but also what we didn’t.”
Schliessler continued, “Another aspect to George’s’ process that I love is how he treats the camera like another character, always making decisions that serve the scene. Sometimes we shot handheld to feel the kinetic energy of Bayard and his volunteers, whereas other times, we stayed still, taking in the story as a voyeuristic fly on the wall.
The cinematographer related that “without a doubt” the biggest challenge that Rustin posed to him entailed shooting at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. He explained, “The steps to the memorial are extremely limited for filming, crew, and equipment. You also cannot stop access for public visitors or hold them back from walking through the shots while filming anywhere on the Mall. Minimal lighting and grip equipment are permitted but by far not enough to control the frame or light for any kind of continuity.”
For those reasons, Wolfe and Schliessler had no choice but to shoot key sequences–such as Mahalia Jackson’s performance of gospel songs and Dr. King’s iconic speech–on a studio backlot. “Everything else was done on location, after carefully considering what would be possible,” recalled Schliessler. “It took months of pre-production and was definitely the most difficult scene to execute in the film.
Schliessler deployed the ARRI Alexa Mini LF camera on Rustin, along with ARRI DNA LF Primes. “We chose the Alexa Mini LF as the large format allowed us to use wider lenses (29mm, 35mm) for intimate close-ups of the actors without distorting their faces,” explained Schliessler. “We used the DNAs as they are made out of vintage glass and give a slightly softer look with beautiful contrast.”
In the overall scheme of things, Schliessler shared, “The biggest takeaway I walked away with from this film was what an incredible and impressive man Bayard Rustin was. Not only was he brave beyond words, but the undertaking of organizing the March on Washington was nothing short of amazing. We had a taste of what preparing for such a big event must have been like, as it took us months of pre-production to plan for shooting these scenes–and that was with all the modern technology at our disposal and an immense amount of financial support. When I think about him organizing the whole movement with 250,000 people in just over two months, with only a small group of young activists, and no cell phones or internet, it really makes you aware of how incredible he was.
“My hope is that Rustin inspires every person to be a peaceful, nonviolent advocate against the racial and sexual discrimination that is far too prevalent in our world today.”
November not only marked the debut of Rustin, but also the rolling out of the limited series All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)–also shot by Schliessler. That same month at Camerimage, Schliessler and series executive producer and director Shawn Levy earned a Golden Frog nomination in the TV series competition for their work on the first episode of All the Light We Cannot See. (Schliessler’s experience on that series is covered in SHOOT’s Guild Awards Television feature story.)
Among other past notable credits for Schliessler are director Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time, Levy’s The Adam Project and an extensive filmography with director Bill Condon spanning Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh; Dreamgirls, which earned eight Oscar nominations, including two wins for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson) and Sound Mixing; The Fifth Estate starring Benedict Cumberbatch; Mr. Holmes featuring Ian McKellen in a tour de force performance; and the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens.
Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF
Among Sandgren’s close-knit working relationships is one with director Damien Chazelle which has yielded Best Cinematography Oscar and BAFTA Film Award wins for La La Land. Additionally Sandgren received a pair of ASC Award nominations–for La La Land as well as Chazelle’s First Man. The latter film also garnered a Best Cinematography nod from BAFTA. Now Sandgren finds himself once again in the awards season conversation but this time for his first collaboration with writer-director Emerald Fennell–the darkly comic psychological thriller Saltburn.
Saltburn marks Fennell’s second turn as a feature director, the first being Promising Young Woman which garnered her a DGA Award nomination as well as three Oscar nods–for Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay. She won the Academy Award in the latter category.
Sandgren said that he loved Promising Young Woman in that it reflected “a strong voice from the writer” as well as “great directorial decisions.”
Sandgren met Fennell through Margot Robbie whom he lensed in Chazelle’s Babylon. Robbie–Oscar-nominated for her performances in I, Tonya and Bombshell–served as a producer on Saltburn as well as this year’s box office phenomenon Barbie (in which she also starred).
That connection with Robbie ultimately resulted in Sandgren being sent Fennell’s script for Saltburn, which the cinematographer affirmed as being “brilliant,” adding that “when she writes, she writes very visually,” to the point where he could feel a number of camera moves and shots in her descriptions.
Saltburn centers on a strange, reserved, isolated, slightly pitiable middle-class Oxford student, Oliver Quick, portrayed by Barry Keoghan. He struggles to fit in with the upper crust until his personal story of adversity–coupled with seemingly unplanned circumstances–result in his successfully infiltrating the world of the decadently wealthy with an invite to spend the summer at the family estate of an affluent, handsome, popular classmate, Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) who’s befriended him. There Quick meets an odd blend of characters, including Catton’s parents (Rosamund Pike and Richard Grant), an unstable sister (Alison Oliver) along with varied other aristocratic types, an eccentric house guest (Carey Mulligan, Oscar-nominated for Promising Young Woman, and a contender this year for the same honor on the strength of Maestro), and a cousin who’s an outsider himself as an American-born person of color. A chain of bizarre, shocking events unfold with varied revelations revealed along the way, most notably about Quick.
Sandgren was drawn to Fennell’s point of view, observing that she deeply understands story and knows why she’s telling it. That enabled the director and DP to craft a visual language for Saltburn which takes us on a journey into intoxicating wealth that turns unsettling, profoundly dark and erotic. Sandgren noted that Fennell metaphorically evoked–and he embraced–the feel of “vampires” to reflect in part the story and visual tone of the film. Aristocracy, related Sandgren, can work kind of like vampires replete with the blood-sucking dynamic. He characterized Saltburn as a film that “takes place in the real world” yet feels like it is “metaphorically a vampire movie,” capturing the Gothic vibe of the estate, even in one scene deploying black silhouettes against a window, figuratively paralleling the tone of the silent German Expressionist horror film, Nosferatu.
Sandgren noted that a Gothic tinge also marked the solitude felt at Oxford by Quick–being “lonely, imprisoned, away from friends.” During scouting of the location, Sandgren recalled finding dorms with windows that looked like they were from a prison or an austere church. Different themes emerged visually, including that of the vampire genre with its eroticism, intimacy, textures, sweat and blood. He added that the vampire comparison provided “a good spiritual metaphor for the film. From that we could develop other more Hitchcock-like and more voyeuristic shots” that Sandgren characterized as “painterly” at times, remindful of a Renaissance painting, a Baroque Caravaggio. That was part of the visual language for Saltburn.
Fennell and Sandgren opted to shoot on 35mm film, deploying the Panavision Panaflex XL2 camera and spherical Primo lenses. Film provided a texture and different way of seeing colors, their richness–particularly playing with blacks and reds–that lent itself to the story, observed Sandgren. The lenses were sharp but not too sharp, conveying some flaws that helped visually make the film what the cinematographer characterized as “naturalistically poetic.”
Sandgren further said of Saltburn, “This may be for me perhaps the most sort of expressionistic film [I have ever done]–and Emerald encouraged it, to go further than what my normal comfort zone would be.” The DP added that on Saltburn, “I learned a lot from Emerald. I may have shot more films than she directed yet she’s more brilliant than I am as a filmmaker…She thinks so smartly and is so precise about driving story, about driving the next step.” Sandgren observed that she creates fertile ground for emotions and visual expression. “Her voice is so strong.”
Sandgren too has an eloquent voice visually and as a storyteller. In addition to the aforementioned honors he received, his lensing of La La Land and First Man both scored British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) Award nominations. And his BAFTA nods for La La Land and First Man were followed by a third for No Time to Die, the James Bond film directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Sandgren also shot such films as Promised Land for director Gus Van Sant, Battle of the Sexes for Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and Joy and American Hustle for David O. Russell.
Cristina Dunlap
American Fiction marked the first time that cinematographer Cristina Dunlap collaborated with writer-director Cord Jefferson. The feature was also the first directed by Jefferson. Both these firsts have made a lasting impression, starting in September at the Toronto International Film Festival where American Fiction won the People’s Choice Award, a perennial bellwether in the Oscar race. Historically the Audience Award, voted on by festival attendees, has almost always translated into Academy Award contention. In fact, every People’s Choice winner at the Toronto fest since 2012 has gone on to earn a Best Picture Oscar nomination.
And earlier this month, American Fiction scored five Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, including for Best Feature and Screenplay.
Dunlap can attest to the quality of the screenplay. Upon reading it, she remembered thinking, “This is one of those scripts that can change your life if you get it. It was the best script I think I ever read.”
Based on the 2001 novel “Erasure” by Percival Everett, American Fiction confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a professor of English literature. He is a respected yet frustrated novelist, fed up and disillusioned with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own which propels him to a lucrative publishing deal, the promise of a feature film adaptation–and in the process into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain. The cast also includes Tracee Ellis Ross, Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae and Erika Alexander. The latter plays a love interest of Ellison, a relationship that’s undermined by the best seller success.
Dunlap got the chance to read the screenplay thanks in part to Hannah Offer, Jefferson’s creative support and administrative colleague. Dunlap and Offer met on a music video shoot some years back. At the time, Offer was working for another director and developed a rapport with Dunlap on that short-form project. Offer thought of Dunlap when the script for American Fiction emerged.
Dunlap recalled being the first DP whom Jefferson met with to discuss American Fiction. He went on to get together with other cinematographers as Dunlap harbored the hope that “he would come back to me. I feel lucky that he did.” Dunlap thinks that “reunion” was sparked in part by ideas she shared during the course of their first meeting. She saw the film as multi-faceted–a satire on one hand, a beautiful family story on the other, with elements of surrealism figuring into the mix. “We talked a lot about how we would make it tonally cohesive while veering off in these different directions,” recalled Dunlap, whose approach helped mesh the comedic, satiric, heartfelt dramatic and surreal. Towards that end, she wound up with the luxury of eight weeks of prep in Boston, conducting much location scouting, blocking scenes on location, and working with production designer Jonathan Guggenheim to find locations that would benefit the story.
American Fiction was shot in 26 days–”nothing on a stage, everything in a practical location,” shared Dunlap. The extensive prep helped make that challenge doable. There was also the challenge of the weather. Scenes in a beachside community were hit by strong winds, rain and lightning storms, necessitating pauses in shooting. Coming back to a scene after a storm, coming out the other side and making sure that it matched what had already been shot presented another challenge.
Dunlap went with the ARRI Alexa Mini LF camera paired with BLACKWING7 lenses by TRIBE7. She and Jefferson opted for a 2.35:1 crop which is typical of anamorphic lensing–even though spherical lenses were deployed on American Fiction. Dunlap reasoned that the anamorphic framing afforded her more room horizontally, facilitating a flowing movement of the camera to capture the performances of an expert ensemble cast. Dunlap said that a camera moving through the actors, allowing their performances to reveal more about the characters, lent itself to the story as it unfolded. She also enjoyed the flexibility to be in tighter on the actors as needed, particularly for “Monk” whom his brother describes as being “unknowable.” The camera helps us to know more, observed Dunlap.
The Thelonius “Monk” moniker–shared with the famed jazz pianist and composer–also had Jefferson and Dunlap aspiring to attain a sort of jazz vibe and related rhythm through camera movement. Dunlap’s cinematography elevates the dramedy, propelled in part by a penchant for translating emotion and comedy into brave images–as well as capturing the Massachusetts landscapes, helping the settings take on a character of their own.
Dunlap greatly valued the esprit de corps among cast and crew on American Fiction. While it was not the easiest shoot from logistical and other standpoints–with the process moving at “a crazy pace”–the workplace remained “a nice place to be.” Dunlap felt “a genuine love and respect for everyone I worked with on this film.” She went on to affirm that “finding those people who are going to support your vision, support you as an artist and a collaborator” makes all the difference. And her colleagues throughout had a knack for maintaining their composure in the most challenging situations. Dunlap said she would love to collaborate again with anyone involved in this movie.
While American Fiction was Jefferson’s first foray into features and directing, his storytelling acumen was well established going into the project, noted Dunlap. For Watchmen, Jefferson won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series alongside Damon Lindelof. Jefferson’s writing credits also include Succession and the philosophical comedy, The Good Place–series for which he garnered two Writers Guild Awards and an NAACP Image Award. His other work spans such shows as Station Eleven, Master of None, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and Survivor’s Remorse.
And working on a feature that scores on the film festival circuit–as American Fiction did in Toronto–is nothing new to Dunlap. For example, she shot Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth, which won the U.S. Dramatic Sundance Audience Award in 2022. Dunlap shot the Jessica Sanders-directed Embrace which won the Grand Jury Award at SXSW. And in 2016, Dunlap lensed Her Story, directed by Sydney Freeland, which was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Series.
Dunlap started her career in music videos at the age of 17. It took a dozen-plus years of music videos and then commercials for her to break into the feature world. She observed that “the breakneck pace of music videos helped her in the independent feature world. I’m used to moving at a quick space,” which served her in good stead on American Fiction.
